AUGUSTA — Lawmakers are divided over a proposal to remove penalties for Maine-based groundfishing trawlers that catch lobsters in federally regulated waters.
The proposal, L.D. 1549, is designed to ensure that the state's dwindling groundfishing fleet can keep the lobsters that come up in trawl nets and sell them in states that allow such lobsters to be landed.
Critics of the bill fear that it will lead to further loosening of restrictions on sales of incidentally caught lobsters, a practice the lobster industry fiercely opposes because of concerns about its impact on the state's most valuable fishery.
The Legislature's Marine Resources Committee endorsed an amended version of the bill last week, 7-6. The bill would lift the penalty for three years before triggering a legislative review. It could reach the Legislature as soon as this week.
Maine now prohibits sales of lobster bycatch, as does Canada. The state also penalizes commercial vessels licensed in Maine for landing or storing lobsters in Area 3, a federally regulated zone that extends from Maine to the mid-Atlantic states and begins about 40 miles off the Maine coast. The penalty can be as much as $50,000.
Commercial boats licensed in other states may keep lobster bycatch in Area 3.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Anne Haskell, D-Portland, would remove the state penalty on Maine trawlers.
Haskell said the fine is punitive and could prompt the state's remaining groundfishing boats to leave for out-of-state ports.
"It's putting fishing licenses at risk because (commercial fishermen) are not allowed to possess (lobsters) on the boats," Haskell said.
James Odlin, who owns and operates three groundfishing boats in Portland and two in Massachusetts, is one of the dozen or so fishermen who would benefit from the bill. Odlin has advocated for other bycatch legislation, including a proposal sponsored by Haskell that would have allowed Maine trawlers to land and sell lobster bycatch in Maine.
That proposal was unanimously rejected by the Marine Resources Committee, with strong opposition from the lobster industry. Haskell said the new bill is a compromise.
Odlin said the current penalty could prompt him to sell his Portland business.
"All that revenue generation will leave the state because I can't ride around with a potential liability of $50,000 over my head," he said. "No business can do that."
The Maine Lobstermen's Association didn't take a position on the bill. Patrice McCarron, the group's executive director, declined to comment.
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